Br Richard Hendrick OFM Cap Since being posted three weeks ago, the poem Lockdown by Bro. Richard Hendrick OFM Cap has received 45,000 shares on Facebook and 500,000 on Twitter.
Bro. Richard, the Vocation Director at the Capuchin Friary in Raheny, said people of all religions have been getting in touch with him and he is inundated with emails about the poem of hope.
“It’s people saying thank you; people saying the poem was extremely helpful; people for who it has opened a door to come back to their faith, and finding inspiration in their Faith who were unaware that this was something that would move them
in such a way.”
The poem, since it was posted on March 13, has been translated into 13 different languages and animated and made into a video. It has also been shared by two infamous self-help authors, Tim Ferriss and Tara Brach, and by movie star Alec Baldwin and Arianna Huffington on the Huffington Post in the US.
“If it wasn’t to do with such a difficult and negative circumstance, it would be truly a gift. But I’m very aware of the fact that it’s people who are vulnerable and in isolation and pain but they’re finding something in this poem that allows them to recognise
that the human being can transcend the most difficult of experiences and find compassion and the presence of god in really difficult times,” said Bro. Richard.
A regular poet, he will continue to write as it goes “hand in hand with prayer” for him.
You can hear Bro Richard reading his poem on BBC Radio London here.